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G. E. PHELAN.

BILLIARD BALL. No. 359,032. Patented Mar. 8, 1887.

WITNESSES INVENTOR UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE E. PHELAN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

BlLLIARD-BALL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 359,032, dated March 8, 1887.

Application filed August 3, 1886. Serial No. 209,883.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE E. PHELAN, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved BiIliardBalI, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in both the figures.

Figure 1 represents a section of one of my improved billiard-balls; and Fig. 2, a side view of the same, partly broken away.

The object of my invention is to provide a billiard-ball in which the valuable qualities of both ivory and composition balls shall be retained and combined, while the imperfections and defects of both of such balls are minimized.

Billiard-balls made wholly of composition are open to many objections, chief among them being their lack of elasticity as compared with ivory balls, and the great difficulty experienced in making them of uniform weight; and, elasticity and uniformity of weight being great desiderata, these objections are very serious. A further objection to the composition ball is its tendency to shrink and lose its shape. Seasoned ivory balls having these defects to only a very small degree are therefore still preferred for playing billiards, notwithstanding the great difference in cost as compared to the composition ball; but for playing pool, where a greater number of balls are employed and less skill required, the composition balls are employed to a great extent,

because of their comparative cheapness.

In very dry climates ivory balls so rapidly chip and crack as to require frequent re-turning, by reason of which they do not last for i any considerable time, and are therefore but little used. The composition balls are preferred, as they are but little affected by such (No model.)

the shell or covering; but they have proved a failure, as the inner ball rapidly shrinks from its covering, and so soon as this takes place the ball is practically worthless, for once the ball shrinks from its shell at any point the latter will crack and break upon being forced into contact with another ball. Anothergreat objection to these balls is that the shrinking of the inner ball away from its shell makes the ball lapsided, and thus unsatisfactory for playing billiards, (carrom games.) This last defect is also found to a greater or less de gree in all other billiard-balls made wholly of composition, for however carefully the com;

position may be prepared the material form-, ing the ball will not always be throughout of a uniform specific gravity, nor will several balls thus made be of a uniform weight.

In my improved ball no shrinking of the core can take place, and thus the outer shell is not impaired, and, there being but a small amount of composition used, its application can be easily regulated and the objections to it minimized, while its protective properties are fully utilized. Balls made in accordance with my invention, as above described, are comparatively cheap, as ivory balls which have been returned so often as to make them no longer available for billiards can now be utilized. Another reason of their cheapness is that new ivory may be employed in their manufacture that would be too small of itself to be used for the purpose.

. I am aware that a wooden ball has been covered with plastic collodion, and I do not claim the same as of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, ise 1. As a new article of manufacture, anivory billiard-ball having a permanent protective covering.

2. As an improved article of manufacture, an ivory billiard-ball having a permanent protective covering of fibrous composition.

3. As a new article of manufacture, a combined ivory and composition billiard-ball.

4. The combination, in a billiard-ball, of an inner ball of ivory and an outer shell or covering of fibrous composition, as set forth.

GEORGE E. PHELAN. 

